1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spinal massager, and, more particularly, to a spinal massager which can perform oscillating or chiropractic operation along the vertebrae of a user, who lies thereon with the feet elevated above the head, to thereby allow a herniated spinal disc to be readily restored into a gap produced between the vertebrae, resulting in improved blood circulation and muscle relaxation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently people are increasingly health conscious and set aside time to exercise, and thus, spend generous time and money to enhance their physical health. In response to this trend, people spend their holidays to eliminate mental and physical exhaustion and to relax their stress. In the case of officer workers, the mental and physical exhaustion tends to be caused by their poor working posture. Since men have an upright walking posture, they often suffer from disorder of the neck, waist, or back, i.e. diseases associated with spinal discs. The vertebral column is comprised of seven cervical vertebrae, twelve thoracic vertebrae, five lumbar vertebrae, a sacrum, and three to six coccyges. Spinal discs are composed of cartilage present between vertebrae and serve as cushions for absorbing shock. Such a spinal disk, as a kind of a joint, consists of the nucleus pulposus approximately 80% of which is water and which is gelatinous, and the annulus fibrous that is a fibrous material which surrounds and protects the nucleus pulposus. As is well known, the vertebral column is an important organ through which central nerves pass, and the spinal disc attenuates the weight and impact of the body. Sturdy ligamentous tissues surround the spinal disc to enable the vertebrae to function properly through its roles of weight distribution or absorption. Surrounded by the sturdy ligamentous tissues, the disc is difficult to be thrust.
However, once any one of the vertebrae is crooked due to external stimulus resulting from poor posture or an accident, the spinal disc between the vertebrae is pressurized, thus being forced outside of the vertebrae. In this case, the slipped disc stimulates neighboring nerve roots, inducing pain, and ligaments and muscles are stiffened to prevent the vertebrae from being further crooked. This phenomenon is called a “disc-related diseases” or “herniated disc”. Among the diseases, the herniated lumbar disc results from when the disc located between the lumbar vertebrae is pushed to press neighboring nerves, producing pain. Medical treatments of the herniated lumbar disc include surgical operations to correct the crooked vertebrae, or physical therapy that is frequently performed to physically correct the crooked vertebrae. Here, physical therapy is performed to push the crooked vertebrae upward against a downward pressure.
To remedy and correct poor posture, an exercise machine using a handstand posture has been recently developed. The handstand exercise machine (hereinafter, referred to as “spinal massager”) will now be explained with reference to FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a conventional spinal massager 2 in a perspective view. The conventional spinal massager 2 basically comprises a lower structure 10 as a supporting stand of the spinal massager 2, a saddle 22 mounted at an upper portion of the lower structure 10 to allow a user to be hung down in a handstand posture, and a feet holder 30.
More specifically, the lower structure 10 includes a front support frame 12 and a rear support frame 18, which generally have a trapezoidal cross section, and are made up of square bars. The rear support frame 18 is hinged to an upper end of the front support frame 12 to have a predetermined angle therebetween.
A horizontal support bar 14 is welded to a certain upper portion of the front support frame 12 to be connected between opposite lateral portions of the front support frame 12. A length-adjustment vertical bar 24 is coupled to the center of the horizontal support bar 14. Also, a pair of handles 16 is coupled, respectively, to upper ends of the opposite lateral portions of the front support frame 12 to assist the user to lie down or lift his/her upper body. An angle adjustor 20 is provided at the front support frame 12 near one of the handles 16. Both the horizontal support bar 14 and the length-adjustment vertical bar 24 are attached to a lower surface of the saddle 22. Also, the saddle 22 is provided at the lower surface thereof with a length-adjustment pin 28.
The feet holder 30 includes a plurality of feet holding rods 32 provided at a distal end of the length-adjustment vertical bar 24 to catch the user's feet therebetween, a sole support 34 coupled at a distal end thereof, and an ankle-tightening adjustor rod 36 to adjust a distance between the feet holding rods 32 to appropriately tighten the user's ankle.
With this configuration, in an initial state with the saddle 22 elevated above the feet holder 30, as the user puts the back on the saddle 22 and forcibly pushes the saddle 22 down while gripping the handles 16, the saddle 22 is able to be overturned, allowing the user to be hung down in a handstand posture.
As is well known, the handstand posture has several advantages in that it can remove weight applied to cartilage tissues by the user's weight and straightens the crooked vertebrae resulting from bad posture to thereby stretch the height of the user. Also, the handstand posture is effective to reduce abdominal fat to thereby achieve fine physical figure, and shows excellent effect to remedy cold hands and feet. In addition, the handstand posture can prevent or remedy various adult-onset diseases, such as arteriosclerosis and myocardial infarction, and can relieve fatigue and stress by stretching of muscles.
However, the conventional spinal massager 2 merely allows the user to be hung down in a handstand posture, and achieves only meager effect. That is, since it is difficult to overturn the saddle of the spinal massager, a relatively long time is required to restore any herniated disc into a space produced between vertebrae by virtue of the handstand posture.